The Rise of Underemployment: Supporting the Needs of Low-Income Workers

Author(s): Leilani Barnett

In 2016, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco held a series of roundtable discussions across the Western states to examine drivers of the recent rise in involuntary part-time employment and the impact it has on lower-income households. This paper summarizes existing research on the topic of underemployment, discusses themes that surfaced during the locally focused meetings, and proposes ways to address the underlying causes through solutions that build on the interrelated nature of housing, jobs, transportation, and child care.